4 Warning of the Final Plague: The End is NearExodus 11:1-10Warning of the Final Plague:The End is Near

5 Exodus 11:1-10: Warning of the Final PlagueThree main parts:1. Conversation God and Moses2. The statements of Moses to Pharaoh3. Second Address by God to Moses

6 Exodus 11:1-10: Warning of the Final PlagueConversation Between God and Moses (11:1-3)God will conclude the dramaThe last plague will be so severe that Pharaoh will (11:1):Agree with his advisors (10:7): “Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God.”Not merely allow Israel to leave, but will drive Israel out

7 Exodus 11:1-10: Warning of the Final PlagueConversation Between God and Moses (11:1-3)Israelites should “ask” for (JPS Tanakh translation: “borrow”) Egyptian silver and gold (11:2)May echo the Mosaic Law “Year of Release” in Deut 15:1-11Egypt plays the role required by the law of the “Year of Release:” A debtor is to be set free and furnished with enough wealth to be a functioning member of the community

8 Exodus 11:1-10: Warning of the Final PlagueConversation Between God and Moses (11:1-3)People will view Hebrews favorablyFretheim: Pharaoh stands alone as recalcitrantBrueggemann: suggests above a conceit, and in reality “the slaves seized what they wanted on the run and the Egyptians conceded their right to nothing”Moses now regarded by Egyptians with awe because of the power he seems to have

9 Exodus 11:1-10: Warning of the Final PlagueStatement of Moses to Pharaoh (11:4-8)Tells Pharaoh what the LORD has told himincluding the detail not in God’s conversation with him in 11:1-3 that the tenth plague will be the death of all firstborn sonsThere will be loud wailing throughout EgyptRecalls the cry of God’s firstborn (4:22: “Israel is My firstborn son”) in bondage in EgyptA “measure for measure” punishment for Pharaoh’s refusal to free Egypt (JPS Study Bible)Brueggemann: Egypt’s cry even more intense: “Yahweh is the partisan advocate who is prepared to go to any extreme in defense of this vulnerable child”

10 Exodus 11:1-10: Warning of the Final PlagueStatement of Moses to Pharaoh (11:4-8)Note “I will go throughout Egypt” and “every firstborn son… will die” allows ambiguity about God’s direct action hereGod will make a distinction between Egypt and IsraelNo mention that blood on door is needed for God to make a distinctionMoses leaves Pharaoh of his own accord in “hot anger”Fretheim: Anger that in the end this final plague needed

12 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentNarrative interrupted to describe the liturgies to be associated with the ExodusA sacrificial banquet to be held while the final plague is in progressA banquet to be repeated “throughout the ages” to commemorate the event, the prototype of the Seder mealHebrew name Pesah originally referred to the festival of the banquet only; later it incorporated the 7 day Festival of Unleavened Bread that followed

13 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentScholars have speculated that two pre-existent festivals may have been merged to form what became the Passover:1. Older shepherd / pastoral rite observed in the springDemons could be warded off by applying the blood of a sacrifice to their doorsBlood was magically protectiveHebrew name for Passover: Pesah, probably best translated as “protective offering” rather than “Pass Over”

14 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and Present2. An agrarian rite also observed in the springPossible origin for the Feast of Unleavened BreadPerhaps began as a rite of abstinence, marking the uncertainty over the success of the coming grain harvest

15 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentLiturgical year commences with the month of the Exodus (12:2)Months referred to by ordinal numbers (# months since Passover month)every reference to a month thus commemorates the ExodusThis first month later called Nisan (~March or April)These later month names are from the Babylonian calendar, borrowed during the ExileCalendar Year begins in the seventh month (Tishri) with the New Year holiday Rosh Ha-Shanah

16 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentTimeline of Passover:10th day of month: chose an unblemished (standard requirement for sacrificial animal) lamb, a yearling male sheep or goat14th day of the month:assembled congregation of Israelites will slaughter the lamb at twilightBlood put on doorposts and lintelsEat the flesh that night roasted over a fire, along with unleavened bread (matzot) and bitter herbs (maror)Eat prepared to leave at a moment’s noticeEaten during the night of the final plague

17 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentTimeline of Passover:Next 7 days (to 21st day of the month): Feast of Unleavened Bread (Hag ha-Matzot)First and last days: sacred occasions when no work should be done other than the food preparation

19 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentUnleavened Bread (matzah)Was probably similar to pita breadFrequently accompanied sacrificesHaste of their departure left no time to bake leavened breadWeek long abstinence from unleavened bread: a reminder of how God had so overwhelmed the Egyptians that they drove the Israelites from Egypt to their freedomOther associations:“Bread of affliction” eaten during slaveryBread of mourningBread of the poorThe manna from heaven

21 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentModern Passover SedarTorah commands story of Exodus be recounted to childrenPattern for telling is the sedar (Hebrew for “order”)Passover feast came to be called the sedar meal or simply the sedarProgram for the sedar contained in the haggadahNo sacrificial lamb (no sacrifice possible after destruction of second temple in 70 AD)Roasted shankbone displayed as a token

22 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentModern Passover SedarAdditional Foods added:Parsley or Green Herbs: represent springtime and renewal of hopeParsley dipped in salt water, which represents tears of slaveryHaroset, a mixture of apples, raisins, lemon, and cinnamon. Represents the mortar used to build Pharaoh’s buildingsRoasted egg. Represents triumph of life over deathFour cups of wine recall four terms of redemption in Exodus 6:6-8: “I will free you… deliver you… redeem you… take you to be my people”Fifth cup left for Elijah to decide if “I will bring you into the land” is a subset of “I will redeem you” or an additional benefit

23 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentModern Passover SedarOrder of sedar:First cup of wineDip greens in salt waterEat matzohEat marorEat matzoh with harosetTell the story of the ExodusSecond cup of wineDinnerBlessing after the mealThird cup of winePsalms and songsConclusionFourth cup of wine

24 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentModern Passover SedarOpening prayer: “This is the bread of affliction, the poor bread, which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in want share in this Passover. Now we celebrate here, next year in the Land of Israel. Now we are still slaves. Next year may we all be free.”

25 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentModern Passover SederEach Jew must look on himself / herself as if he/she had participated in the Exodus from EgyptHaggadah: “In every generation one should look upon himself as if he personally had gone out of Egypt… It was not only our ancestors whom the Holy One, Blessed is He, redeemed, but also us along with them.”Father says: “We observe this sedar because of what God did for me when I came forth out of Egypt”

26 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and Present“Those who celebrate the Passover are transported into the past, the past is brought into the present, and both point towards the future.” (Jacobson)

27 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentPassover During Jesus’ TimeSixth Century BC: King Josiah moved Passover Celebration to the Temple in JerusalemBecame a pilgrimage festival. 100,000 people brought lambs to Jerusalem to sacrifice in the templeLambs were cooked outdoors in open places in city. Meals eaten in rented rooms, where people reclined at a table in Roman fashionPhilo and Josephus: an extravagant, joyous celebration

28 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentPassover and New Testament TheologyMatthew, Mark and Luke (Synoptic Gospels): Last Supper was a Passover mealJohn: Jesus crucified on the day Passover lambs sacrificed at templeLast Supper hence a meal the day before PassoverThe Eucharist is a reenactment of the Last Supper Passover mealWe are again transported to the past, and the past brought to the present, with both pointing to the futureWe remember God’s great redemptive sacrifice at Calvary was for each one of us

29 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentBlood on the Doorposts and LintelsNeeded for God to “protect” or “pass over” the Israelites?As a marker to help God?Magically protective?Not needed for God – only a “sign for you” (Exodus 12:12)?

30 Exodus 12:1-28: Passover, Past and PresentGod or the DestroyerGod strikes down the firstborn?Or: the Destroyer does the killingAn “Angel of Death”?Merely a name for a the destructive plague / pestilence?

32 Exodus 12:29-42: The Tenth Plague and the ExodusA story of both death and new life12:29: “In the middle of the night the LORD struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt…”Moses and Aaron summoned in the night and ordered to depart “to worship the LORD as you said!”Is Pharaoh just granting what Moses originally asked for, a 3 day leave?Pharaoh’s request for a blessing:His capitulation to the LORD is completeRecalls Jacob’s blessing of another Pharaoh in Gen 47:7, 10

33 Exodus 12:29-42: The Tenth Plague and the ExodusExodus 12:35: Israelites ask for articles of gold and silver and clothing; Egyptians give them what they asked forFretheim: Hearts of Egyptians softened towards Israelites, who can leave “dressed out,” with raiment and jewelry befitting the new level of life God has raised them toBrueggemann: “The language of ‘favor from Yahweh’ and ‘asking’ in fact disguises marauding and plundering, which the erstwhile slaves work against their deeply resented masters.”

34 Exodus 12:29-42: The Tenth Plague and the ExodusExodus 12:37: From Rameses to SuccothRamesesthe Capital, symbol of Egyptian powerA city where Israel had worked as slavesSuccothA days’ journey from RamesesIn the eastern Nile delta, near Goshen where the Israelites lived

35 Exodus 12:29-42: The Tenth Plague and the ExodusExodus 12:37: …600,000 men on foot…Num. 1:46 and 2:32 gives 603,550Men of military age, 20 and older. If women and children included: 2 to 2.5 million total!Unlikely Goshen and the Sinai could have supported so manyElef (= “thousand”) sometimes meant “clan” or “squad”Number probably hyperboleFretheim suggest 2 to 2.5 million was the population of Israel at the time of Kings David and Solomon, and thus a liturgical reminder that they too had all experienced the Exodus

36 Exodus 12:29-42: The Tenth Plague and the ExodusExodus 12:38: mixed multitudeMeaning:Non-Israelites: other enslaved groups in Egypt, not descendants of 12 sons of JacobEarliest Israel may not have been a purely ethnic community, but a marginated socioeconomic group (Brueggemann)Fretheim: other enslaved groups had been integrated into the community of faith. “Freedom for Israel means freedom for others”God’s redemption is for the sake of the entire world

37 Exodus 12:29-42: The Tenth Plague and the ExodusExodus 12:40-41: 430 years in EgyptConsistent with 400 years of slavery predicted in Genesis 15:13Inconsistent with Genesis 15:16, which states Israel would return in the fourth generationInconsistent with Moses as the great-grandson of Levi (Exodus 6:16-20)Exodus 12:41: Israelites organized in “companies,” “ranks,” or “divisions” – i.e. organized as an army

38 Exodus 12:29-42: The Tenth Plague and the ExodusExodus 12:42: a night of vigil. Used in several senses:1. Vigil by God. The night of God’s protection of Israel at the Exodus2. Vigil to GodIsrael’s vigilance that night waiting for God to deliver them at the ExodusThroughout the ages: Israel’s observance of the Passover sacrifice.Fretheim: “Israel’s keeping remembers God’s keeping”

39 Supplementary Directions for the PassoverExodus 12:43-51Supplementary Directions for the Passover

40 Exodus 12:43-51. Supplementary DirectionsGives seven supplementary rules for observing Passover for “foreigners,” “strangers,” (resident aliens), slaves, and employeesExodus 12:48: a Resident alien can celebrate the Passover and “be regarded as a native of the land” if all his males are circumcisedThe only formal procedure in the Bible for converting foreigners to Israelites

41 Special Observances: Body and MemoryExodus 13:1-16Special Observances:Body and Memory

42 Exodus 13:1-16. Special ObservancesExodus 13:1-2: The firstborn, human and animal, belongs to GodGenesis 4:4: Abel brought the choicest of the firstlings of his flocks as a gift to the LORDIn an agricultural economy, the rent is often the first share of produce from the land or first born animalan acknowledgement of ownership and sovereigntyGod is the giver of life; the life of the firstborn was consecrated to God in gratitude by the Israelites

43 Exodus 13:1-16. Special ObservancesExodus 13:3-10: the Feast of Unleavened BreadRepeats material in Exodus 12:14-20Exodus 13:8: anticipates telling the story of the Exodus will provoke the questions of children“Your shall tell your child on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’”

44 Exodus 13:1-16. Special ObservancesExodus 13:9: “It shall serve for you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the teaching of the LORD may be on your lips.”Jewish tradition reinterprets Exodus 13:9 in the light of similar but more literal commands in Deut. 6:8 and Deut as the justification for wearing tefillin or phylacteriesPhylacteries contain the verses:Exodus 13:1-10Exodus 13:11-16Deuteronomy 6:5-9Deuteronomy 11:13-21

45 Exodus 13:1-16. Special ObservancesExodus 13:11-16: More on the First-borns belonging to GodConsecration of firstborn to God given new rationale:the commemoration of God’s slaying the firstborn of Egypt at the Exodusthe sparing of the firstborn of Israel at the Exodus (Note this sparing is not explicitly mentioned)Exodus 13:15: the LORD killed all the first-born in the land of Egypt… Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD every male that first opens the womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.”

46 Exodus 13:1-16. Special ObservancesFretheim: “Is it possible that the firstborn belong to God … because the Egyptian children were killed? This is thus an everlasting reminder in Israel at what cost Israel’s firstborn were redeemed.”Note definition of firstborn is the firstborn of the mother, not the father (“that first opens the womb”)Human firstborns also belong to God, and must be redeemed from GodJewish Practice: Pidyon ha-ben (“Redemption of the Son”) takes place 31 days after birthSon is redeemed by giving “kohen” (a descendant of the priestly family) 5 units of local currency

47 Exodus 13:1-16. Special ObservancesFirstborns in the New Testament1 Corinthians 15:20: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.”